1 Once Upon a Time.

The cries resounded loudly through the little hut, a jolly ocassion indeed, the first son of the village chief had born. Being brought to the world below the sign of Oggun, being the first male child to his father, he was expected to be a warrior and Akin was his given name, a name for warriors. But the ocassion soon had a mixture of jolly and grim, unknown to the little child, his mother passed away minutes after she gave him a name and caressed him for first and last time. They knew this would happens, she knew this would happens, nevertheless after hearing the village elder advice for first time she wanted to give birth anyway.

As tradition in the village he born, as expected to the father he was born, Akin started training and learning about how to fight to a very young age. And even beyond all expectations he exceeded in the spear usage, maybe because of his bloodline or because of his divine symbol or maybe he was just a genius, nobody knew but those were the facts. But the little Akin even though he enjoyed fighting, he was more amused towards the village elder, his wide range of knowledge, the ability to predict and cure illness, the ability to foresight the weather and those interesting histories about the world outside his village.

On the early years of Akin life something marvelous happens, he was seven back then and one of those days he was training on the village outskirts some childs were attacked by a lion, which could be called a rare sight on the areas near the village or it wouldn't be a safe place. Out of instic, maybe, Akin choose to fight the lion so his peers would have time to run away and maybe for the adults to came. In the struggle, perhaps by a struck of destiny or divine intervention the child ended killing the lion, a scene that amazed to everyone in the village to the point in which some started worshipping the child and thanked that such a gifted child would be their next leader, the future would be promising under him.

But destiny was never know for being straight, much less fair and Akin dream, as anyother dream of the villagers soon shattered as the village itself. It didn't even took a day before the entire village was raided, everyone killed or enslaved as Akin even was. He fight fiercely, but he was soon defaeted, he was just a child, the enemies were all trained warriors, and counting just with numbers the enemy would obliterate them anyway. That day he witnessed, the great horror that was the destiny of the defeateds, he father was killed, the village elder was killed, even some of the children he used to play with were killed, the few survivor enslaved and waiting something maybe crueler than death.

But no matter what, he didn't cried, he was raised as a warrior, he couldn't blame anyone others than themselve for being weaks. Who would take something from the strong, he would made the strong do something he don't like it. That day he sweared to himself that don't matter the cost he would be strong enough to never lose something again.

Taken to a slave camp, the worst years of Akin life begans but also the years in which his future was defined. A sheep in a wolf's den, the better way of describe Akin situation, he was the only child in the entire campament, the lower of the chain food, the clear objective of every bully and abuser. But they never seen him cry, the village elder once told him, look closely to everything around you there is something to learn in every single thing. And he did so, he learned to read people, he learned to sow discord and backstab, he disliked those methods but has the weak had ever had choices?.

Four years passed in a blink he was thirteen already, he grew a lot, how to be called more a young than a teeneger. In those years he went from the very bottom of the campament to almost the top, there was some distance yet but nobody looked down on him anymore nor would someone pick a fight on him unless needed. That year brought two great changes to him, he killed a human being for first time, one of those who used to bullied him, but he didn't feel anything being nor relief nor regret, he just feel the warm blood over his face, since then it was sure his path would be a bloody one. The second change was him losing his virginity, maybe not something to make a great fuss but curiously that was also the day he got to know her, and that was definitively the turning point on his life.

It was somekind of ritual he understood, a massive offering to some goddess,tens of person were having sex inside a temple. This was the first time he received carnal pleasure and as a teeneger, dominated by hormones, he was tottally inmersed in the action but went he was near to the ecstasy when something curious got his attention. There , sat near the altar, was the prettier woman he had ever seen, a glint of loneliness in her gaze which was directed to nowhere, as if she was lost in though as if worldly affairs couldn't enter in her eyes. Was she a priestess of the goddess?

After Akin exploded, he walk to her, as if something was pulling him. He stand before her, like dummie lost in her beauty , she was still absent minded.

-How can you be so beautiful miss?- He dumbly asked.

Snappig out of her though she dumbly replied.

- C-can you see me?

Like that destiny bound two dumbs toguether.

But Akin was a slave in a war driven nation and soon he was marching toward war. For some reason the battlefield feel like home to him. And battle after battle his count kill rose greatly and such his rank beetwen the slaves and some liberties that were gifted to him. Clearly their master were enticing the slaves to strive harder through him but a gift was a gift anyway. He used those liberties for visiting the goddess temples, waiting for some miracle, and for his surprise and joy he found that pretty women every single time. As time passed they become closer, and people started to think that Akin had turned into a total devote. Afterall he passed his free time in the temples, totally alone mumbling as if he was praying.

The more the time passed, the more Akin fell for this woman and unknowingly she started to take some liking for Akin too, maybe she passed to much time alone. As the time went by Akin learned a lot from her, how to read, how to properly know about people desires, how to fight, even though he never win. And those who took Akin for a devoted for sure would took him for a crazy if they would ever got to seen ones of those incredible simulated battles he had against the air. Akin even learned some languages which she called runes, and read a lot of books written in those runes, but no matter how hard he tried even if he knew what those runes meant he couldn't proununce them. Nevertheless he was amazed, very amazed, totally out of him when he saw her perfoming 'magic' and almost blank out when she called herself Ashtarte.All this time he forgot something as basic as ask for her name. Did gods really exist? Did he fell for a goddess??.

Time kept going and thanks to the politics for enticing slaves and all the knowledge he got from Ashtarte, he won his freedoms and soon he was scaling through the military ranks. Twenty years went by and Akin was at the apex of his life as mortal, he was a general of the empire, a feared one. Some years ago he learned that Ashtarte was wounded, she was also partipating in some kind of war. Who would had though that even gods went to war and for resources, just that their resources were their followers. Wanting to help, even knowing that she may no like it, Akin turned Ashtarte in goddess of war too, one that all his soldier have to whorship and soon all the soldier of the empire were whorshipping.

Now his shight was in attaining divinity, she told him than even humans could do it. And during the few intimacies he got from her, she would tease him telling him that if he wanted more, he would need to ascend first.

But destiny, as ever, disliked straight lines, and that day when he was visiting her what greeted his vision was she impaled to the ground by three glowing golden spears being holded by three winged people with rings floating above their head equally brilliant than the spears. He couldn't even utter a word and could just watch her as she turned into dust. What was the point of fighting for two decades? What was the point of being a general? Didn't he promise himself to never lose something again?

He started chanting, and the winged persons turned their sight to him, normally they would ignore a human unless they were send to see it but this particular human was chanting in soul runes and worse of all he was trying to open a gate to Hell. A winged person disappeared , in the next moment he was just in front of Akin and his spears was about to pierce Akin forehead, when a blue sphere protect Akin from the incoming strike. The sphere surprised everyone, and the other two winged person were about to take action when Akin ended chanting. Below him a pitch black hole appeared, and him as the winged person next to him were sucked in, then the hole started increasing in length absorbing everything around.